News Brief

July 17, 1998

The Swiss government announced it would not attend U.S. congressional hearings on reopening the Washington Agreement of 1946, under which Switzerland returned to the Allies a portion of the gold it received from Nazi Germany. Ambassador Thomas Borer said he had written to Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.), who is holding the hearings next week, that the Swiss government has already testified on several occasions and that it has taken several steps to redress its wartime past.